DEBTS OWED STATE HIT $6 BILLION

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

The amount of money owed the state by businesses and individuals rose to nearly $6 billion in the last fiscal year and could total closer to $10 billion by the end of 1998, Comptroller Loleta Didrickson said Wednesday.

Didrickson said unpaid child support, student loans and income and sales taxes make up the bulk of the money owed to the state, with about 45 percent of the debt classified as uncollectible. Overall, the amount of money owed to the state increased by $73 million from December 1994 to March 1995, for a total of $5.93 billion.